Humanist

Speaking yesterday, Wednesday, 19th July 2023, at a meeting that was called by Entebbe Municipality technocrats to purportedly address the concerns of land owners and the business community along Kiwafu Road, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Chairperson for Entebbe Division B, had no kind words for the technocrats. Speaking in Luganda, she started her speech by mocking them:

“I start by thanking people from the Municipal Council for disrespecting us. You cannot invite people to a meeting at 10:00 a.m., and people arrive at the outdoors venue and there is no chair, no tent. We are the residents and citizens of this area and you were employed to work for us.”

We, myself inclusive, the affected persons started arriving at the venue from before 10:00 a.m. and there was no one to receive us. In fact, the first persons to arrive were not even allowed into the venue, because they were told by the persons guarding the Kitoro Taxi park that it is under construction for over five years and it is not open to the public.

Eventually, at about 10:30 a.m., some of the organisers arrived. However, the few plastic chairs, a tent, and public address system did not arrive until an hour later. Meaning that many of the affected residents had been standing for two hours or more with no where to sit.The meeting started close to midday.

The late start of the meeting contextualizing Ms. Namyalo’s dissatisfaction with the organisers, when she pointed out: “in this Uganda of today, if a person just sits around without earning 100 shillings for even two minutes, you are pushing the back.” We eventually learnt fro that the meeting had been scheduled for 30 minutes – 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. However, it started after 11:00 and went on to past 01:00 p.m.

Anyway, back to Ms. Namyalo’s speech. She used the opportunity to educate the technocrats using best practice examples of civil servants of times past who did good work and worked well with the community. She singled out three former engineers, in particular and praised them thus:

“I recall when we were young girls, when Engineer Owaraga and Engineer Byaruhanga repaired roads, the repairs would last for even up to ten years… We had an engineer who was called Osamai. Whenever he was going to do something, he would come down to the grassroots and consult with the people.”

It is against this background that Ms. Namyalo decried the current bad practices of engineers, planners and road constructors in Entebbe as follows:

“These days, a pothole is filled and the next day it is still a pothole. These are things that cause this government to be abused – not doing good service delivery… Engineer (Mayito Apollo), first show us the roads you have completed properly and then you start on Kiwafu Road. You have failed to properly work on these other roads and then you now want to work on Kiwafu Road? First finish the other roads. And, by the way, rain or shine, you have to give us the reports on those roads.”

Amidst applause, Ms. Namyalo called for punitive action action to be taken against the Entebbe Municipality Engineer, Planner (Simon Kabanda) and the contractors:

“I tell you this: rain or shine the contractor who is doing these roads needs to be jailed. We are tired of being disrespected. If the press was here, I would have knelt down, and asked them to convey a message to our government to come and arrest the engineer and the contractors. This is too much. Government should jail them. We are tired.”

Affected residents and business owners along Kiwafu Road, Entebbe at the meeting at Kitoro Taxi Park. Front right is Hon. Michael Kakembo, Member of Parliament for Entebbe Municipality.

Yes, there is an emerging situation in Kiwafu, Division B, Entebbe Municipality, Wakiso District that if not handled well will likely cause significant constructive dispossession of landowners of their land; and major financial loses to small and medium business owners. Which disasters, moreover, can be avoided simply by our leaders operating within the law.

The Kiwafu Road is not a new road. It is a road that is part of the original design of Entebbe and it was surveyed already in the 1960s. In 2019, it was reported that it was to be renovated. Residents participated in a re-pegging and demarcation process that was conducted by the Municipality Planning office together with the Uganda National Roads Authority IUNRA) and political leaders.

All were happy and even those to whose property there was encroachment did not object to the road being renovated and up-graded in accordance with its 1960s survey plan. No work was done. And so, residents were surprised three weeks or so ago, when people came and re-pegged the road, without any consultation with land owners and business owners along the road.

The 2023 pegs were placed on people’s private land and buildings marked falsely indicating them as being part of the road reserve. And there is the dimension of those small business owners who were moved out of the Kitoro Taxi Park onto the Kiwafu Road reserve in order to pave way for the construction of a modern park. The park is not yet completed, where will they now go?

Dear Reader, please share this post to those in your network whom you know to be in authority and or in contact with those in authority so that the matter of the Kiwafu Road Expansion project is brought to their conscious attention.